The Vaccine Trials Inquiry was a Division of the Investigation Committee.
Judicial Review proceedings seeking, inter alia , a declaration that the Order which established the Vaccine Trials Inquiry was ultra vires the Act of 2000, were initiated in November 2003. On 25 November, 2003, an undertaking was given to the High Court, by the Commission, that it would not conduct any hearings in relation to the matters within the ambit of the Order, until the matter was settled. The practical effect of this undertaking was that the work of the Division was suspended at that point and never re-commenced, given the subsequent decision of the Court, that the Order was ultra vires the Act.
Consequently, the material below is, effectively, for archive/historical purposes only, as and from November 2003.
Members
The Honourable Mr Justice Sean Ryan, Chairperson of the Commission
Professor Edward Tempany, retired consultant paediatrician
Functions of the Commission in relation to Vaccine Trials
As provided for in SI No.280/2001, to inquire into-
- the 3 vaccine trials referred to in the Report of the Chief Medical Officer referred to the Commission by the Minister for Health and Children on 13th November 2000 (detailed below), and
- any other vaccine trial found by the Commission to have taken place in an institution between 1940 and 1987 based on an allegation by a person who was a child in that institution that he or she was the subject of such a vaccine trial.
Report on Clinical Trials
Report by the Chief Medical Officer of the Department of Health and Children, referred to the Commission by the Minister for Health and Children on 13th November 2000, entitled
“Report on Three Clinical Trials Involving Babies and Children in Institutional Settings 1960/1961, 1970 and 1973”.
Vaccine Trials Rulings and Directions
Some documents in the website are in PDF format. How to download PDF files